VINCENT BONSIGNORE: No matter the knocks on NFL stadium, it's game on

Less than a week before the Anschutz Entertainment Group was to release its highly anticipated environmental impact report for its downtown Farmers Field football stadium project, a report surfaced that a potential deal to bring the NFL back to Los Angeles was all but dead.

The demise, the report stated, was the result of the unacceptable financial terms AEG head Phil Anschutz was proposing to NFL teams contemplating a possible relocation to Farmers Field, which included Anschutz purchasing a share of the team at a severely discounted price.

Game over, the Chicken Littles screamed immediately after the story dropped.

Just like that, they worried, the Farmers Field project was squashed.

Game on, is what I say.

Because nothing indicates the NFL - be it on a league or team level - is getting serious about Los Angeles and Farmers Field more than a well-timed, well-planted story knocking AEG's initial financial terms.

It's a classic negotiating ploy by a league well-versed in hammering out the best-possible deal for its 32 teams, a preemptive strike in a high-stakes poker game in which two master card sharks - the NFL and Anschutz - will soon sit across from each other and try to reach an agreement that suits everyone's interests.

The NFL didn't grow into the greatest sports league in the world by giving up the slightest inch anytime it sat across from someone at the negotiating table.

And whether it's hammering out the richest television rights deals in sports history or forging a path back to Los Angeles, you better believe the NFL won't shake hands with someone if there is even the hint of a morsel on the table to quibble over.

So when the story surfaced last week the NFL wasn't keen on the terms Anschutz was floating it wasn't the end game but a starting point.

The NFL understands the 10,000-page EIR released Thursday represents the final leg of the long, complicated process AEG undertook to reach an acceptable agreement on the state and city levels.

The EIR is scheduled to go through a 45-day public comment period - perhaps a bit longer considering its immense size - and once it's approved by the City Council and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the report would be open to legal challenges for 175 days.

Barring an unforeseen development between now and the 175-day challenge period, AEG will clear the EIR hurdle and construction can begin on the new stadium at anytime.

And when that happens, they will finally be free to sit down with the NFL and an existing team to talk about moving to Los Angeles and playing in Farmers Field..

Until now the NFL has sat back, somewhat skeptically, and watched the more than two-year process play out. The league has been burned by Los Angeles before, getting its hopes up too many times over the last 17 years by various stadium proposals only to see one after another crash and burn.

As a result, the NFL wasn't about to come out with a ringing endorsement on Farmers Field - let alone sit down for official talks - after being fooled so many other times by seemingly air-tight plans.

And with Ed Roski Jr.'s City of Industry project still in play, the NFL could afford to sit back and quietly monitor the situation.

But each time AEG president Tim Leiweke cleared another hurdle, be it reaching an agreement with the city of Los Angeles or the state of California or now, seemingly, the all-important EIR report, the NFL quietly raised an impressive, if not cynical, eyebrow.

By the end of 2012, perhaps the beginning of 2013, that skepticism will be replaced by the certainty that if the NFL decides to return to Los Angeles it will have a brand new privately funded 70,000 seat stadium to call home.

"And that changes the whole dynamic of the game," Leiweke said.

Ironically Anschutz himself has been dubiously watching things unfold from his home in Colorado.

Two years ago Leiweke came to his boss with a crazy idea to build a football stadium adjacent to Staples Center and in the process renovate the notoriously outdated Convention Center.

And while Anschutz pledged $1.5 billion to cover the entire project he, like the NFL, was wary Leiweke could successfully navigate the plan through the murky political waters of a city and state renowned for derailing even the most well-intentioned, well thought-out projects over the years.

But Leiweke will soon hand Anschutz a piece of paper, on which a series of boxes will be checked off.

City: Check.

State: Check.

EIR: Check.

Each box represents the significant ground Leiweke's covered the last two years as he's guided Farmers Field across the field and into the red zone.

Now it's time for Leiweke to hand off the ball to Anschutz and ask him to punch it over the goal line.

Because one box will be conspicuously unchecked: NFL.

At that point, the once skeptical Anschutz will take the ball and go to work hammering out a deal to bring an NFL team to Los Angeles.

And that is when things will really get interesting.

On one side of the table you'll have a commissioner and league that desperately wants to return to Los Angeles. No matter what you've heard about the NFL only using Los Angeles as leverage over the years to get stadium deals passed across its 32-team league, forget it.

The NFL wants back in Los Angeles; it just needed a serious, viable stadium commitment here before it could seriously consider us a legitimate player again.

And it will only agree to return on terms suitable to its needs.

On the other side will be Anschutz and all his financial might, happy to write the $1.5 billion check but keenly intent on seeing a return on his investment as quickly as possible.

He will need a piece of whatever teams move here to make that happen, it's the only way he'll see real money off his significant outlay.

If things break right, maybe an owner frustrated by the lack of progress building a new stadium in his current city will throw up his arms and simply sell Anschutz his entire team, an idea Anschutz is open to.

He is a smart businessman, though, and he isn't about to agree to a deal that doesn't protect his interests or the city's interests.

Identifying a team will not be a problem.

In a time when cash-strapped cities and states and angry taxpayers are adamantly opposed to underwriting billion-dollar stadiums for billionaire owners, you can be sure one or two teams like the Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo Bills or Minnesota Vikings will run out of funding options to build stadiums in their cities and have no choice but to turn to Los Angeles.

The last hurdle will be the NFL and Anschutz coming together on a deal, and it will be tough, contested negotiations between two worthy dealmakers.

You'll even hear and read similar reports to the one that came out last week.

But keep in mind two things:

First, the NFL wants back in Los Angeles.

Second, Anschutz has too much money and too much pride invested in Farmers Field to get this far and fail.

That means there is enough motivation on both sides to get a deal done.